Not Just Another Alien
by FinallyAssimilated
Summary: Only one thing and one person has really kept Jonas Quinn going since his earliest days on the planet.
1. Default Chapter

He woke up at the alarm and looked around the room, reminding himself where he was and why he was there. Each day started with this mental rehearsing of the fact that he had given up everything he knew in this universe and his self-affirmation that it had absolutely been the right thing to do. This had helped Jonas deal with the daily reminder of the pain that had been caused by Dr. Jackson's untimely death and his feeling that somehow, the SG-1 team still blamed him for that.  
  
While the other members of SG-1 had at least acknowledged his sacrifice, they had not warmed up to him right away. Janet Fraiser, on the other hand, had been warm and welcoming, putting him at ease right away and assuring him that everything would work out as it should.  
  
Morning had also been easier to deal with on a day like today; he looked forward to the mission briefings because she would be there. She always sat next to him in these meetings, demure and beautiful, the consummate professional.  
  
He realized that her position as the Chief Medical Officer and her taking care of him in that role probably contributed to his feelings for her, but then, he'd seen her in another light, and he knew that he had loved her since that night in the infirmary.  
  
He had had to go there upon coming through the gate with the naquadriah when he had left Kelowna. She had suggested that he be confined to the infirmary overnight for observation before she released him to whatever tasks SGC might find for him; she had been concerned about the radiation level that he himself might have been exposed to and she wanted to keep an eye on him.  
  
It had been late at night and something had woken him up. He had looked across the room; watching her as she sat down heavily on one of the few empty beds, and pulled her auburn hair loose from the small, severe bun she sometimes kept it in.  
  
He had risen quietly and gone over to the end of the bed she was sitting on. He had been immediately struck by the softness that her face had, but his thoughts shifted to one of concern as she began to sob quietly.  
  
"Doc? Are you okay?" he had asked her softly.  
  
She had been startled at the sound of his voice; jumping down off the bed she had immediately begun wiping her eyes, trying to regain her composure. He had smiled at her then, and she had stopped, seeming somehow to trust him with her raw emotions in that one moment.  
  
She had smiled through her tears at him, and he had been amazed at the beauty he noticed in her at that very moment.  
  
"Can I help?" he had asked in his quiet tone of voice. He knew that it was unlikely she would trust him with whatever it might be, but he had felt compelled to offer.  
  
He'd seen the look in her eyes and realized that Janet herself hadn't been sure why, but he knew that something about his manner spoke to her instincts. Somehow, she had felt safe revealing this side of herself to him.  
  
She sat back down on the bed, defeatedly. He sat down next to her.  
  
"It's just that, sometimes, I get so tired of watching these young men and women coming through here, some of them multiple times. It's heartbreaking to see them struggling back from a staff blast or a zat gun shot, or an alien virus or an infinite number of other injuries when they should be out living life, having fun, raising families, anything but this" she had said with a note of anguish in her voice.  
  
"Sometimes, I just don't know how I'm going to handle it all; I get so scared that I won't be able to help them, that I won't know how to cure whatever they might come across out there," she said helplessly, with a wave of her hand in the general direction of the gateroom. The feelings were coming fast and furious now, tumbling out. She had looked at him then, fresh tears in her eyes.  
  
He had smiled at her again, a big warm smile. "You're doing the best you can for them and that's all anyone can ask," he'd said gently. "And from what I can see, your best is the best they'll ever get," he'd added with another one of his infectious smiles.  
  
She had smiled back at him then, a warm, trusting smile, revealing a true, inner beauty to him.  
  
"Thank you, Jonas," she had said quietly; then she had looked past him at the clock.  
  
"Oh, my, it's late! You should really try to get some sleep," she'd said to him in her doctor tone of voice, jumping down off the bed, the moment of her raw humanity having passed.  
  
He smiled at her, glad to see that she had regained herself. "Yes ma'am," he'd replied, getting up and heading back to his own military style infirmary bed.  
  
Most mornings, he realized, it was this memory that sustained him, that got him out of bed, dressed and ready for the day.  
  
He walked into the briefing room; she and General Hammond were always the first two people to these meetings and he was usually third. The other SG- 1 team members teased him about his eagerness for these briefings; he would smile to himself knowing that it was seeing her that helped fuel his enthusiasm.  
  
She and General Hammond were chatting amongst themselves as he entered; they looked up at him. He smiled his usual, toothy grin.  
  
"Good morning General Hammond, Dr. Fraiser," he greeted them.  
  
"Good morning Jonas," General Hammond greeted him respectfully. The young man's easy charm and enthusiasm for this work, not to mention what he had sacrificed had put him in George Hammond's good graces, though he was careful not to let too many people know this.  
  
"Jonas," Janet Fraiser greeted him, with a smile and a slight nod of her head. He slid into the seat next to hers. It was going to be another good day. 


	2. Not Just Another Alien, part 2

Janet pulled up in the driveway; she could see that every light in the house was on.  Her instinct to point out to them the effect of this on their electric bill was muddled by the warm feeling she got knowing that they were both at home.  Over the last couple of months, since Jonas had come to their household, she'd grown quite accustomed to this.  _What's a few extra kilowatts, _she chided herself, compared to the feeling that it gave her.

The weather was wonderfully warm in the soft twilight of mid summer.  As she went up the front walk, she could hear the sounds of the television set wafting through the open screen door; it was one of those cooking shows; Jonas was absolutely hooked on them, and as she entered the house, she could see he'd been trying to match their efforts again.

As she looked at him, his face stricken as he suddenly realized the mess he'd created along with his latest novelty food item, compliments of Emeril this time, she smiled.

"I'm sure it's wonderful; this will clean up," she said.  She made a mental note to advise General Hammond that Jonas was ready to return to his full duties; to this she added another note to take him out for a real dinner.  She'd been looking for an excuse to invite Lieutenant Hailey over to stay with Cassie, and with SG-1 offworld for the next couple of weeks, she knew Sam wouldn't be available to baby sit (although Janet would never have told Cassie that's what it was).

Jonas returned the smile, relieved that she wasn't upset with him about the chaos of the kitchen.  "It looked so easy the way he was doing it," he offered, sounding frustrated.  "At first I thought this television was a great teaching medium, but now I'm beginning to wonder how much truth it really presents," he continued, the puzzled frown he occasionally got creasing his brow.

She smiled to herself.  Since he'd been staying with them after his surgery, he tried valiantly to help out and he firmly believed that a good dinner was the key to a happy household.  She wondered briefly how many episodes of "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver" he'd had to watch to become endowed with that particular wisdom.

"How about Friday night we go to the square and get you a real gourmet dinner?"

As she heard the words coming out of her mouth, Janet was surprised that her mental note had converted itself to this suggestion so quickly, though she shouldn't have been – Janet Fraiser was nothing if not a woman of action.  She thought he looked as surprised at her offer as she suddenly felt at having made it. 

"Okay, I'd like that," he said, trying not to sound as amazed as he felt.

"Like what?" Cassie said as she descended the stairs.  Her jaw dropped at the sight of the somewhat unattractive though hopefully edible creation, inadvertently cringing at the chaotic mess of spills, broken eggshells and mysterious globs that decorated what was normally the kitchen and eating area; she looked over at her mother.

Janet turned; it was all coming together now, she thought with a certain sense of comfort.

"Cassie, there's a girl up on base who would like very much to meet you; I thought maybe she could come over and hang out on Friday night and I'll take Jonas down to the square to that nice restaurant we ate at for your last birthday."

Cassie grinned, recognizing her adoptive mother's keen ability to take exactly the right path when presented with a troubling situation.  She also knew firsthand that Janet had unending patience, having tried it often enough, Cassie thought to herself with an inward grimace.  Her innate senses told her that, as a teenager, she could be quite a handful; the Tauri children her own age would not know this for several years; perhaps not until they had children of their own.

"Cool," she replied casually.

Not having her own car, Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey rode with Dr. Fraiser back to the pleasant split-level in the suburbs of Colorado Springs.  She had been pleasantly surprised when Janet had called her and asked her to come and stay with Cassie; she thought the doctor might have filed her suggestion of friendship away with other kindnesses she'd been offered.

Cassie was out in the yard "teaching" Jonas how to play catch as the two drove up – Jonas knew perfectly well how to do this, but allowing Cassie to think she was showing him how to do things was the real fun.  He knew it gave her a sense of confidence, too, having only recently learned some things herself.

Cassie waved in the direction of the car; the girl in the passenger seat was pretty, obviously military though, thought Cassie.  She'd have to draw her out of that a bit, like she did with Sam, she thought happily.

Jonas smiled at the sight of the car; he was really excited about this dinner out that Janet had suggested.  In addition to his desire to explore more of this new world he now called home, he was looking forward to an evening alone with the pretty doctor.  Cassie was a great kid; he was secretly thrilled that she'd started calling him Dad when he had come to stay with them (though she admitted later that this was really a part of her ongoing plot to discombobulate the nosy neighbors), but he longed for the type of interaction that should not occur in the presence of those her age.

"Hi, Lieutenant Hailey," he greeted her casually as she got out of the car, recognizing the young blond officer from several times he'd seen her in the labs with Major Carter or Dr. Jackson.  Like himself, he'd noticed that she sometimes seemed as if she felt out of place at the SGC.  Her efforts to "make it" equaled his own; he felt an unspoken kinship with her on this level.

"Nice to see you again, sir," she said with a pleasant smile.  She looked at Cassie, a bit shyly.

Jonas turned.  He held out his arm, Cassie came to his side.  "This is Cassie."

"Hi," Cassie said.

"Hi.  My first name's Jennifer," Lieutenant Hailey said smoothly, as she held out her hand to the younger girl.

Cassie took it; it was small and soft, but strong.  This was a good, honest person, her naquadah enhanced instincts surmised.  She smiled.

"Do you like MTV?" Cassie asked.

"Love it," Jennifer said with a grin.  "Don't get much of a chance to see it any more, though, I'm afraid I might be quite a bit behind the times on it," she added demurely.

"That's okay, I'll catch you up on what's worthwhile," Cassie replied enthusiastically with a smile of her own.

Jonas grinned softly at the exchange, suspecting that, like he frequently did, Jennifer was instinctively setting Cassie up to spend the evening "teaching" her the finer art of appreciating MTV.

Janet had gone in the house to get ready while the three of them talked, and quickly changed into the fitted, sleeveless black linen shift that she favored on nights such as these; the simple dress was comfortable and served to highlight her natural beauty.

She slipped on her black patent leather heels and her favorite string of pearls, donning the matching earrings as she came down the stairs.

The three of them walked in the house just then, Jonas following the two girls. He stopped in the doorway, his mouth inadvertently dropping open.  He'd always known she was beautiful, but the sight of her dressed like this soundly confirmed it, her outfit perfectly accentuating all of the finer points of her attractive figure.

Cassie and Jennifer also stopped.  "Wow, Mom, you look great," Cassie said in an awestruck voice.

Janet eyed the three of them critically as she efficiently finished her task with the earrings.  "You look like you've never seen me in a dress before," she said lightly, realizing with a twinge of regret that they probably had not.  The combination of a household with a teenager and a recovering patient and running an on-base infirmary did not lend itself well to occasions for this sort of dress up fun, she thought ruefully.

She looked at Jonas now.  "Jonas, it's the custom on this planet for the lady to keep the man waiting, not the other way around," she said teasingly, with a hint of laughter in her eyes.

"Oh, uh, I'll just be a minute," he said, almost bashfully, as he bounded up the stairs to the spare bedroom.  Luckily, one of the things that Cassie had truly been able to instruct him in was the finer details of proper dressing for occasions on this planet; he reappeared momentarily in a pair of gray dress slacks, with a white no collar dress shirt, the top buttons of which he had left open, and a nice sport jacket that was just the right shade of charcoal gray to complement the other two pieces.

The combination brought out the true color of his eyes, Janet noticed, and she felt herself inadvertently drawing a breath at the sight of him.  He really was quite a nice looking young man, a forgotten part of her realized, not for the first time.

This reaction was not lost on the two girls.  Cassie elbowed Jennifer and giggled conspiratorially; Jennifer put a hand to her mouth to stifle her own.

Janet looked at them sharply, regaining herself.  "You two can order a pizza if you'd like; we should be back by 11:00," she stated in a matter of fact tone of voice.  She looked at Jonas.

"Ready?" she asked lightly, trying to quell the sudden nervousness she felt.

He smiled.  "Ready."

Janet was used to Jonas' relatively quiet demeanor; she secretly enjoyed watching him quizzically observing his surroundings as they drove downtown.  It reminded her that it really was good just to be alive.

It was a beautiful evening for a night out; the square was busy but not overly crowded.  They were seated at a small table outdoors; Jonas held Janet's chair for her, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by her.

The waiter lit the small oil lamp in the middle of the table before disappearing to fetch the wine that they had decided on.  They perused the menu briefly; when the waiter returned, Jonas suggested that the lady should try the wine when the waiter offered, and then waited for Janet to place her order before adding his own.

_Whatever else he's capable of,_ she thought, _his manners are impeccable_.  _Very few men on Earth really know how to act like a gentleman_, she thought wryly.

Dinner was as good as the descriptions had sounded; the wine complemented it perfectly.  Contrary to both their feelings of trepidation, the conversation flowed easily between them.  They did, after all, have a common workplace and several common colleagues, not to mention now a common home and Cassie, whom Jonas had come to feel as fondly for as he'd imagined he'd ever feel about a daughter of his own.

Jonas' interest in Earth food added to the chatter; Janet was amused at his enthusiastic appreciation for it, and found herself enjoying her own more for it.

_Nothing like an alien to remind you just how good life really is,_ she thought to herself again.  With Cassie, Janet had always thought it was her youth that contributed to the wonder she seemed to have about everything, but Jonas was equally intrigued by what she deemed the simplest of things.

This alternate perspective on everything Janet had ever taken for granted was humbling; despite her commitment to maintaining her professional demeanor with him, Jonas' view of life on Earth continually endeared him to her.

A brief flash of Samantha Carter and the Tollan Narim came into her head at the thought; she remembered Sam describing this same feeling when it came to time she had spent with him.  She stopped the memory before it could get to the tragic ending that their association had taken, not wanting to remember the deep pain it had caused her closest girl friend.

There was more wine than food, and Jonas emptied the remainder of the bottle into their two glasses.  He cherished every chance he got to venture out into this new world; every time he went out he noticed more and more things that amazed him – the trees, the mountains, the clear, clear sky….not something that he'd experienced much of on Kelowna, which was generally dreary after far too many generations of war.

Then there were the Tauri people – intense, outlandish, colorful; it was as if they were living out loud, he thought, every one completely different from the next, yet so much the same.  He knew they had their problems, but their ability to unite for a common purpose amazed him; this was understandable, since his previous living experience had been with a race that were incapable of this self-preserving skill.

As their plates were removed, he looked over at his dinner mate, the low light of the oil lamp softly illuminating her beautiful face in the growing twilight.  Though he saw her everyday, Jonas thought he would never stop being amazed at her beauty, with her shiny auburn hair and her incredibly big brown eyes.  The soft lines that were just beginning to make their presence known around her eyes and the edges of her mouth gave her something of a regal aura, Jonas thought; not signs of age so much as indicators of earned wisdom and serenity.

It was her personal strength that really wowed him, though; with all that she saw and dealt with on a daily basis, she so rarely lost her temper or seemed overwhelmed, and she always seemed to know exactly what to do, no matter what the situation.  Her faith in the karmatic idiom, everything will work out as it should, it always does, was admirable; she was never wrong.  He'd added it to his own list of mantras.

He'd known ever since that very first night in the infirmary that he was completely smitten; but he never thought he'd be part of her household, much less having a wonderful meal with her on a warm summer night.  Seeing her like this, relaxed and happy, he was thrilled that he could be part of it with her.  He felt a wave of gratitude and happiness come over him.

"Y'know, Janet, I really want you to know how much I appreciate all that you've done for me," Jonas said.  He looked directly at her now.  "You're an incredible woman, Janet, beautiful inside and out," he said quietly, thoughtfully.  He tipped his wineglass towards hers, clinking it lightly before taking another sip, watching her over the top of the glass.

His seriousness was reflected in the earnestness in his eyes; the pure humility in his voice struck Janet, giving her a warm feeling.  She was used to gratitude from her patients, but none of them had ever looked at her quite the way Jonas was looking at her now.

"Well, really, I should be thanking you," Janet said lightly, "for all you've done with Cassie," she added, consciously realizing she was practically deflecting him with a mention of Cassie.  As much as she was enjoying this, she knew she wasn't ready for the level of closeness that such an exchange might otherwise have conferred.  She reminded herself that Jonas was a patient.

Jonas noticed the diversionary tactic, and the slight hint of nervousness in her voice.  That he was making her uncomfortable initially bothered him when a sudden thought struck his keen senses:  _She likes me.  More than she wants to, _he realized.

He was still looking at her, smiling now; it was a look she hadn't seen on the face of a man for a long time.  It sent tingles up her spine, despite her mental reaffirmations that she was his physician.

Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the color of his eyes, or the warmth of his smile, but Janet realized just how much she had missed this type of interaction, how much she had missed someone looking at her _that way_, as if he had some intimate secret about her that she herself didn't know; she was also becoming acutely aware of just what a good looking man Jonas really was.

At this last thought, she felt suddenly shy, and broke off the gaze, looking down at her folded arms on the table.

Jonas sat up and placed his glass on the table.  "Well, Cassie's just a wonderful kid; she really makes it easy to be with her."

Janet laughed.  "Well, then, you should try being her mother some time," she stated emphatically, with a mixture of humor and slight sarcasm in her voice.

She shook her head, folding her arms on the table again.  "Some days, I just don't know," she sighed quietly.  A pensive look came over her lovely brown eyes as she gazed at the table between them.

"Aw, come on, Doc, you're not being fair to yourself," Jonas said.

She looked up at him wonderingly.

"You're her mother, you represent the guiding force in her life and she's at that age where she needs it and resents it at the same time," he stated in a knowing fashion.  "Me, I'm just the good time guy; you're the real parent," he added, somewhat sardonically, with a wave of his hand.

His enthusiasm for what he was saying gaining ground, he continued.  "You're doing the best you can, and that's all anybody can ask, right?  And from what I can see, the best you've got to give is the best she'll ever get," he stated firmly, grinning.

His face softened a bit.  "She knows that, too, Janet," he said quietly, leaning on the table, looking at her with a small smile.

Janet absorbed the weight of what he was saying, a shy smile playing on her lips at his frank observation of hers and Cassie's relationship and the familiar sound of the words with which he'd initially managed to get her attention in the infirmary that first night.

He excused himself to go to the men's room, discreetly paying the bill on the way back; another cultural idiom he'd learned from the male characters on the television shows the Tauri called soap operas.

As the waiter rang it up, Jonas looked over at her.  She was more relaxed than he'd ever seen her; it was what he had been secretly hoping he could do for her that evening.

She smiled as he approached the table; he gently took hold of the chair she was sitting on.

"Shall we?" he said graciously.

Momentarily Janet wondered about the bill; then she consciously tossed the thought aside, giving Jonas a smile as he helped her out of her chair.  _Trust that he's taken care of it and let it go,_ she told herself; _he's alien, not stupid._

Stepping out of the restaurant, they looked around at all of the people having a good time, laughing and chatting merrily.  Janet felt a sense of longing to be a part of it.  She looked at Jonas, and felt another rush of nervousness.  She steeled herself against it; she would not deny herself these brief moments of pleasure that can be had simply being in a man's company, she decided emphatically. 

"It's a lovely evening, and I could use a breath of fresh air after all that wine," she said.  Taking a deep breath, she continued.

"Would you like to walk around the square before we head back?  We've got a little while," she added with the slightest note of hopefulness in her voice, looking up at the clock on the tower at the end of the square nearest them, then back at him.

Jonas noticed the slightest look of apprehension in her eyes again; she'd gone out on a limb here, he realized.

He smiled warmly at her.  "I'd like that," he said.  He turned and offered her his arm; tentatively, she slid hers around it and they strolled slowly amidst the frivolity of the warm night.

The street artists and performers were out in full force in the beautiful summer weather; it was a delight to watch them, especially the way the younger children reacted to their antics with such awestruck looks on their faces.

As they approached the last corner before the parking lot, the clock ticking away the moments much faster than either one of them would have liked, the sounds of a corner jazz band drifted towards them, growing louder as they approached.

Jonas suddenly started playfully moving his feet in time with the music; he released Janet's arm and broke into a full dance step.

He grinned at the bemused, wondering look on her face.  "Hey, I've watched all of the dance show reruns – Lawrence Welk, Solid Gold, Dance Fever – you name it.  It's not that hard once you've studied it," he said, with his usual matter-of-factness.

Impulsively, he grabbed Janet's hand and pulled her towards him; she twirled expertly into him, selected memories from another lifetime taking their appropriate place in her mind at that moment.

Jonas smiled to himself; she could dance, too.

As they easily moved their supple bodies to the rhythm, a small crowd began to gather, awed by the grace and ease with which the attractive couple tripped the light fantastic.

The band, inspired by the impromptu turn, sped up slightly, wrapping up the song on a sliding, low brass note tailor made for a long dip; Jonas obliged, expertly dipping Janet low to the ground.  She played right into it, her leg rising elegantly in the air next to him, as if of its own accord.

His face was close to hers now; he was grinning impishly, holding her firmly off the ground.  Janet felt wonderfully carefree, safe in his embrace; she hadn't danced like this in what seemed like forever.

The music stopped, and those in the gathering around them clapped politely.  Startled, they looked over at the crowd; they hadn't realized that they were being observed.

Jonas returned his gaze to Janet, slowly pulling her back to her feet.  She was breathless, her mouth open slightly, giggling; her beautiful face glowed with unbridled joy.  As they rose, still in their dance embrace, Jonas pulled her close and kissed her, passionately.  The on-lookers openly cheered now.

They parted, both equally surprised by the spontaneous action.  They stood looking at each other, breathless, neither exactly sure what to do next as the crowd dissipated.

Jonas reached over; taking Janet's face in both of his hands, he kissed her again, deeply, with all of the energy of his undeclared love.  It was another, whole new experience for him; the combination of his feelings for her and the complete newness of the world around him made feel as if he were kissing a woman for the first time.

Throwing caution to the wind, responding to the demands of her body, Janet let herself melt into his incredible kiss, sliding her arms under the sport jacket, around his back; he pulled her close.

The carillon of the clock tower rang then, signaling the passing of the third quarter of the hour and the end of their kiss.  He was still holding her, enjoying the warmth and softness of her; she let him, reveling in the feel of his strong arms around her, her every sense alive with the closeness of his finely honed physique.

"I wonder if this is how your 'Cinderella' felt at 11:45," Jonas said with a grin.

"11:45?  Is it that late already?" Janet quickly stepped back, out of their embrace, startled.  She turned to see the clock, sighing with relief when she saw that it was only 10:45.  She looked back at him now with an almost sad smile.

"Well, we should really go; we told the girls we'd be back by 11:00," she said lightly, in her I'm-just-your-physician tone of voice.  Her reserved, doctor manner had returned, but Jonas thought he detected just a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

"Yeah, you're right," he said casually, with his usual, easy, charming smile.  In that moment, Janet realized that, after this night, she might not ever see that smile again without feeling the tingle it now gave her.

They walked silently back to the car, each secretly treasuring the moments that had just passed between them.


	3. Not Just Another Alien, part 3

Sam pulled up in the driveway to drop Jonas off; she declined an invitation to come in as she had some errands to run, but instructed Jonas to tell Cassie and Janet that she would call as soon as she got home.

As Jonas entered the house, he could see the look on Janet's face as she viciously cut up carrots and beans to put them on to boil.

"Uh-oh, what's the matter?" he asked.  Janet glanced up the stairs and then back to the cutting board.

Jonas knew that look; without a word he proceeded up the stairs.  She could hear him knock on the door, even though it was muffled by the sounds of the boiling water.

"Hey beautiful, what's up?" he began.  She heard the door shut and then the muffled voices were out of hearing range.

Janet breathed a sigh of relief, as she scraped the cutting board contents into the boiling water and set about preparing the remainder of what would be their evening meal.  It felt so….homey, she thought, for lack of a better word, to be busying herself making dinner while Cassie and Jonas talked upstairs.

She would never admit this to any of her woman friends, but she secretly enjoyed it, though she knew the novelty would wear off quickly if it were all her life contained.  She felt a sudden surge of respect for those women who chose to devote their life to such endeavors; she was pretty sure she never could – her experience with her ex-husband had taught her that much.

The sound of their gentle laughter drifting down the stairs brought her wandering thoughts back to the two of them as she mixed up the ground beef with the seasonings according to the recipe card she kept on the refrigerator.

On some level, she thought it should bother her, their closeness; she was the mother and wasn't she the one that Cassie should talk to?  But then, she'd never planned on being a single mom, and truthfully, she was grateful to him for the assistance.  She was never really sure why, but her instincts continually told her she could trust him.  Cassie always seemed in a much better mood after they talked, and Janet was glad for that.  She knew it could not be easy for Cassie and since Jonas had arrived, theirs had been a tight bond.  As aliens, they shared common ground that Janet logically knew she could never appreciate.

After Cassie had gone to bed later, she would ask him.

"Anything I should know about?" she would say casually, knowing that the likely answer would be no and trusting that he would tell her if it was.

He would smile that big, disarming grin of his.  "Nah, just standard teenage alien angst," he would say, his usual reply to her when she asked this question.

She placed the meatloaf in the oven, her thoughts inadvertently strolling back to the time when he'd first come to stay with them.

She had been watching him in the infirmary after his surgery.  He had been lying in bed, restless, alternately trying to read and then sleep.  It was times like this when he had been most down, she noticed.  His normally broad, warm smile wasn't seen as often during those times, and he had had a distant look in his eyes that she hadn't liked.

Watching him, twirling her pen in her hands, Janet pondered what she should do.  She knew that he really needed to get out of this place; most of her other patients had lives and homes and family she could send them to; this nice young man – and he was a nice young man, alien or otherwise – did not.

She bit her lip; a part of her knew what needed to be done, but she was hesitant.  On the one hand, she knew Cassie would love it; she'd grown quite fond of him in the many visits she had made.  They understood each other on a level that Janet would never be able to comprehend.

On the other hand was the fact that such an arrangement would not be easily explained to people; a good looking young man moving in with a single mom and her teenage daughter.  But then, so much about hers and Cassie's current living arrangement already defied explanation.

She looked over at him; the cloud in his eyes was too much.  _Well, people be damned,_ she decided defiantly.

She made a telephone call.  George Hammond listened quietly.

"Are you sure, Doctor," he asked.

"With all due respect, General, I've done all I can for him here; he needs to get out and about.  I've got the room and Cassie will certainly appreciate the company, given the similarity of their situations."

"All right, Major, you have a go," General Hammond had said.  Janet's instincts were strong and he trusted her; he'd also seen the changes in the young man since the surgery, too, and though he lacked any formal medical training, he knew she was right.

She stood up from her desk, walking over to the bed.  He smiled broadly as she approached, but the distant look was in his eyes.

"Jonas, I've made a decision about your ongoing recovery," she said.  "You need to get out of here and get some fresh air and live in friendlier surroundings," she started evenly.

He looked at her questioningly.  Janet took a deep breath.

"I've spoken to General Hammond about this and I have his full support," she started in her matter of fact tone of voice.  "As I am the doctor with primary responsibility for your well being, and I have the room, it would be best if you came to stay with me," she finished lightly.

Jonas grinned broadly at her; it was true, what she'd been saying since he'd arrived – things always have a way of working out the way they should.  This seemed almost too good to be true.  He frowned suddenly.

"You're sure I wouldn't be too much trouble to you and Cassie?" he asked hesitantly.

Janet smiled.  "Well, how much trouble you'll be remains to be seen, but unless you have reservations about it—"

"No, no, not at all," Jonas interjected hurriedly.  "I just don't want to impose on anyone," he said, a note of awkwardness in his voice.  The pretty doctor had already been so kind to him, and her daughter was an absolute delight; between the two of them they had made him feel more welcome on this planet than any of the approving glances or heart to heart talks he'd managed to glean from the rest of SG-1.

The awkwardness had not gone unnoticed by Janet; she felt suddenly protective of him.  She'd seen him through what seemed like more than his fair share of ailments and tragedies since he'd arrived; it bothered her to see him feeling even more isolated by this latest malady.

"Well, it's settled then.  General Hammond has already arranged for you to have the proper accounts and identification for life on the outside; all that remains is for you to gather your things and we'll go home," she said merrily, her convictions in the rightness of this act strengthening as she heard herself saying the words.

A couple of months later, when she'd reported to General Hammond that he was able to return to his regular duties at the SGC, she had held her breath, waiting for the inevitable question regarding his living situation:  since he was officially "fully recovered", would he go back to the base?

She knew that she could not have argued against it if he had said that he wanted to, or if General Hammond had ordered him there, but secretly she knew that she would have missed him almost as much as Cassie would have.  _If not more,_ a part of her stubbornly pointed out.

But they had simply continued on in this arrangement, one day at a time; a fact that she was continuously grateful for.  No one on base had questioned it either, much to Janet's daily relief.

She heard the door shut upstairs then, interrupting her memory replay.  They came downstairs together, conversing quietly; at the bottom of the stairs, Cassie reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug that he returned with a quiet look of fondness on his face.

"Thanks Dad," she said sincerely.  She looked over at Janet.

"Can I help with dinner, Mom?" she asked politely.

Janet smiled, feeling a warm sense of comfort come over her.  All was right with the world again.


	4. Not Just Another Alien, Part 4

Jonas walked in the door, setting down his things as he heard Jack's truck pull away.  It was uncharacteristically quiet; usually when Cassie got home she'd turn on the stereo in her room while she did her homework.  It was late for her not to be home yet, he thought with a sudden pang of concern.

He walked up the stairs towards her room, knocking on the closed door.

"Cassie?  Are you home?"

Hearing only a muffled sound from the other side, he slowly opened the door.

Cassie was sitting at her desk in the dark.  As Jonas flipped on the light, she glanced up; a look of guilty anguish on her face.  Her eyes were red rimmed and her lovely young face was red and tear streaked from what had obviously been a crying jag.

"Hey, beautiful, what's wrong?" Jonas asked, a note of alarm in his voice.  It was not the first time that he'd found her crying; sometimes she wanted to talk, sometimes she didn't, the latter events he usually chalked up to "a girl thing," as Janet had tried to explain it.

Cassie responded by putting her head down on the desk and resuming her sobbing.

Jonas walked over to her carefully, putting a consoling hand on her shoulder.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked softly.

Cassie snuffled a bit.  Jonas was a man, so he might just be able to understand the dilemma she was in; after all, it was a man's fault, she thought bitterly.

"You know there's a dance at the school next month."

Jonas thought for a minute.  He remembered Cassie trying to convince Janet to be a chaperone, but Janet was afraid she might get paged to the infirmary, so Jonas had offered to assist her – if she got called in, he could still be there.

"I mean, how difficult can it be to chaperone a bunch of high school kids?" he remembered asking innocently.  Such events on Kelowna were subdued, and those who attended were usually quiet and respectful.

Janet had just looked at him when he had said that, a "you don't know what you're in for" grin on her face, but she had agreed, much to Cassie's delight.

"Yeah, what about it?" he asked quietly, his concern still evident in his tone.

"Well, Dominic and I weren't getting along, so when Ben asked me to go, I said yes.  I mean, Ben's the quarterback, everyone wants to go with him, so of course I said yes," Cassie explained.

Jonas was used to this, this outlining of the details surrounding whatever seemingly momentous event had produced this particular angst; he found it best not to attempt to comprehend it, but to simply nod in agreement and pretend that he understood.

"Well, then Dominic asked Cheryl to go, and of course, she said yes; I mean, she's only been after him ever since I got there," the slightest hint of jealous contempt creeping into her normally warm and friendly voice.

"Uh-huh," Jonas said, trying mightily to sound interested.

Cassie swallowed hard; this next part was the most difficult.  "So then, Judy and Ben made up and now he's going to take her instead of me," she said, her tears starting anew.

Jonas resisted the urge to ask who Judy was; his keen senses told him that it wasn't integral to the point.  The young man in question had broken a date with Cassie to take someone else; that was just wrong.  He somehow sensed that pointing this out to her wouldn't help, either; she knew that.

Unsure exactly what to say to her, Jonas sighed.

"I'm sorry, beautiful; that sounds awful," he said sincerely, rubbing her back affectionately.

Cassie didn't say anything, just renewed her sobbing.

Jonas heard the car drive up; Janet was home, he realized with a sigh of relief.  

"Well, look, I'll go downstairs and tell the doc you're not feeling well and then I'll bring you some dinner," Jonas offered, recognizing that she really wanted to be alone at that moment.

"Okay.  Thanks, Dad," she said, smiling through her tears at him.

Janet was in the kitchen, putting away the groceries she had bought on her way home.  Jonas began unloading some of the cans and boxes silently.  She looked up at him.

"So?" she said quietly.

Jonas sighed, glancing up the stairs.  "I don't know what to do about this one, Doc," he said.

Janet stopped.  "What is it?" she asked, a hint of anxiousness in her voice.

Jonas scratched his head; then he proceeded to repeat the whole story in a wondering tone, as if he wasn't sure what had happened, either.

"Well, it seems that she and Dominic weren't getting along, so somebody named Ben asked her to the dance, so of course she said yes, then Dominic asked Cheryl to go, but then Ben and Judy made up, so –"

"Jonas."

He looked up.

"Can I get the short version?" Janet asked with an ever so slightly exasperated smile.

"She no longer has a date for the dance next month."

"Oh, no," Janet said, her mother's anguish evident.  Anger set in as she realized what had happened.  "That little snake, I've got half a mind to call him up and – "

"Doc, that's exactly what she's afraid you'll do," Jonas said quietly, with a smile.

Janet gave him an indignant look, and opened her mouth to protest.

"You DID almost shoot the last creature who messed with her, doc, I think she's got a point," he said quietly, with just a hint of triumph, giving her one of his disarming grins.

Janet rolled her eyes and sighed loudly, knowing that he was right but not liking it one bit, even if it was accompanied by that smile.  "Alright then, I'll leave it alone."

Watching Janet in her motherly moments was one of Jonas' private delights; her feisty attitude and protectiveness really impressed upon him the depth of her love for Cassie, and he was endeared to her all over again whenever he saw it.

While he was in the infirmary after the operation, they had talked at length about Janet's feelings for Nirrti since her last appearance in the SGC; it was more than enough to give Jonas a deep respect for what Janet would be capable of if pushed where Cassandra was concerned.

They finished putting the groceries away in silence, but Jonas could almost see the wheels churning in Janet's mind.  As they made dinner together, a sly smile crossed her lips.

"What?" Jonas said, recognizing that look; he knew she'd thought of something.

Janet smiled at him.  "Never you mind," she said teasingly, with a sparkle in her deep brown eyes that lit up her beautiful face.  She handed him a plate for Cassandra.  "Just tell her that things will work out as they should; they always do."

Stay tuned!  Better yet, look for the next installment of "Elsewhere in Colorado Springs"…!!


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